Robert Smith
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Now there's a button.
Comes out in 1977, and it does...
It does, like, okay.
It does pretty well.
But it does not do amazingly well.
It is not the success that we know it will come to be.
And the executives in New York at Warner decide the hippies out in California need a grown-up to help them become a real grown-up company.
Classic moment, Barry.
And Warner brings in this guy named Ray Kazar to work with Atari.
not a tech guy.
I'd been an executive at a big textile firm, started his own shirt company.
Oh, shirts.
Kids love shirts.
And, you know, initially, Kazar is kind of consulting, whatever.
But after a few months, the executives at Warner tell Bushnell that he can stay on as chairman, but Kazar is going to be the CEO of Atari.
And Bushnell says, no, no, this shirt guy is not going to be the CEO of Atari.
And Warner says, yeah, we own the company.
He is going to be the CEO.
And if you don't like it, you're fired.
And Bushnell says...